John Degenkolb took third on the first bunch sprint of the Vuelta a Espana, as Tom Dumoulin holds on to his second place in the GC. Peter Sagan claimed the victory on stage 3.

On the road from Mijas to Málaga the riders had to tackle two GPMs with the third category Alto de Mijas already after 8km in the stage and the first category climb the Puerto del León at km 60.

The last escapee from the group of eight riders that formed the day’s break was caught back 14km from the finishing straight in Málaga. Team Giant-Alpecin took the initiative in the final 5km to prepare the bunch sprint, as John Degenkolb took third after a successful lead-out by the team. Peter Sagan (Tinkoff – Saxo) won the stage.

Coach Addy Engels explained: “It was a very hard day. After the first category climb a lot of riders dropped including three of us.

“The lead-out went very well and according to our plan. Koen [De Kort]was the last rider before John and with a strong pull he put him into perfect position to start the sprint. Sagan and Bouhanni were just faster today.”